Umbraphile.....thats me, well if doing it once classifieds me as such. I like to think so.

Its a great word. Umbraphile is a shadow lover, especially in terms of eclipse chasing. One who searches the world for best place to see this natural phenomenon.

Waiting For The ShadowI travelled 1700k to see the Total Eclipse. And thousands of people from around the world descended into Cairns for the same reason. It is very rare to see a total solar eclipse, especially from the land and in ones own country.

As dawn broke and the sun began to rise over Queensland, totality ....when the moon completely covers the sun began. It was Wednesday the 14th of November. A day that will be in my memory for ever. An extraordinary natural phenomenon.

The eclipse happens because at this time, in space, the sun which is 400 times bigger than the moon, is also 400 times farther away, so for those near Cairns it will appear that the moon matches the size of the sun.

It really makes you think....what the world would be like with out the sun, how dark it would be, and cold. I noticed a sudden drop in the temperature and that the birds went quiet, everything was quiet. I thought about what it must have been like for the dinosaurs back during the Ice Age.

I'm hooked. I am planning where I have to go next to see the next eclipse

We had a dog named Umbra: the collie part of her gave her a tiny white stripe on her muzzle, the Lab part put a matching black stripe next to it. The husky part of her made her love to pull, and for years we took her to a carnival at the local elementary school, put on her harness, and hitched her to a little red wagon. She happily hauled children on the track around the playground all day long.

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